This semester I have learned that formal and informal assessments can and should be the most important tool for a teacher to use. To design an effective formal assessment you must first utilize the informal assessment tool. The number one type of formal assessment I used in my classroom was the written test. Effective test design can be challenging. It should be quick to grade and it should be valid. A teacher must keep in mind the level and ability of their students' when designing the test. Otherwise, students who do not deserve to fail will fail and mid level students will struggle through the test and then give up at a certain point. I have a found a nice balance of matching, true/false, and MC questions that students seem to respond well to. The matching and T/F questions are easier, more plentiful, worth less points per question, and account for about 45% of the total points on the test. Another 45% of the points are contained within the MC section which would have less questions but are worth more points per. The MC questions are the meaty, more difficult, questions. Effective distractors must be implemented here or the questions will not be valid. This is the section where the student who put the time and effort in to studying at home can accumulate the points necessary to get a good grade. Finally, there will be a section of short answer worth 10% which would be higher level questions. This is to reward the student who studied really hard and is a higher achiever to give them the opportunity for that A.
Another form of assessment I used was a written paper. Students participated in a lab activity where they conducted 4 experiments, each a different type of chemical reaction. To assess, they had to write a 1-2 page paper explaining the four types of reactions that they observed as if the person they were talking to knew nothing about chemistry. This proved to be very difficult for them. Many just described their observations and didn't get into much detail describing what was taking place on the chemical level. I did not like this form of assessment as much for several reasons. The first reason is that it takes a lot of time to grade, reading through every paper can be time consuming and tedious. I don't see it as an effective use of time. Secondly, the grading can be quite subjective. To effectively grade something like this a rubric would need to be applied, or some set of guidelines that students can follow. Without a guide for them to use, papers will vary across all different types of ideas and the students may not present the information that the teacher is looking for.
One more type of formal assessment that I used in my classroom was a lab report. Lab reports have the same problem as a written paper, subjectiveness. The main difference between the paper and the lab report is that with the lab report you know what you are getting. If strong guidelines are not given, the paper could be all types of shapes and sizes and topics. The grading however can still be a bit subjective. I have given a rubric with each lab that requires doing a full lab report. This eliminates subjectiveness
Another form of assessment I used was a written paper. Students participated in a lab activity where they conducted 4 experiments, each a different type of chemical reaction. To assess, they had to write a 1-2 page paper explaining the four types of reactions that they observed as if the person they were talking to knew nothing about chemistry. This proved to be very difficult for them. Many just described their observations and didn't get into much detail describing what was taking place on the chemical level. I did not like this form of assessment as much for several reasons. The first reason is that it takes a lot of time to grade, reading through every paper can be time consuming and tedious. I don't see it as an effective use of time. Secondly, the grading can be quite subjective. To effectively grade something like this a rubric would need to be applied, or some set of guidelines that students can follow. Without a guide for them to use, papers will vary across all different types of ideas and the students may not present the information that the teacher is looking for.
One more type of formal assessment that I used in my classroom was a lab report. Lab reports have the same problem as a written paper, subjectiveness. The main difference between the paper and the lab report is that with the lab report you know what you are getting. If strong guidelines are not given, the paper could be all types of shapes and sizes and topics. The grading however can still be a bit subjective. I have given a rubric with each lab that requires doing a full lab report. This eliminates subjectiveness